Linux: Run cron job in foreground

Question

In Linux, is there a way to run a cron job in the foreground (or interactive mode)? (I have a program that runs periodically to accept user input and do some processing. So I want to schedule it as a cron job that can run in the foreground).

Answer 1

Try this out on your user's crontab:

@hourly DISPLAY=:0 xterm -e /path/to/my/script.sh

It will open (hourly) an xterm with your script executing, and exit after your script exits. Of course, you should modify the @hourly part to suit your needs.

Answer 2

For GUI scripts in cron, try the following line in a shell:

crontab -e

Then in crontab :

0 7 * * * DISPLAY=:0 /PATH/TO/SCRIPT

Answer 3

Assuming you are running X, you could always have it open a window on a selected display.